The Clippers come into tonight needing this game. Even though they've won five of six, they haven't beaten a winning team since December 23, and that was Houston without McGrady and, after the first quarter, Yao. With Chicago having beaten Dallas in the last week, ranked second in overall defense and first in forcing turnovers, the Clips face their first real gut-check since the Cleveland game. In response, the Clips turn in their best first half of the season and a workmanlike second half in which they withstand a run from a gritty, good basketball team. They score 110 against a team that hadn't allowed 100 in ten games. They perform and, even more important, are led by Shaun Livingston at a moment in the game when a tired Cassell seems to implode.

It's always dangerous to proclaim a performance like Shaun's as a "breakout game." I mean, how many times have we talked about Shaun's turning a corner? But something about tonight feels different because Shaun truly takes over the game when the Clippers desperately need a playmaker. Let's take a look at the final 3:33 -- in which the Bulls are essentially held scoreless[1] -- focusing primarily on Shaun's effort. In between a couple of Elton Brand free throws, Sam Cassell leaves the game after having turned the ball over in consecutive possessions. Q. Ross substitutes[2], leaving Shaun with the responsibility of running the offense:

[3:33] After EB sinks the back end, Hinrich brings the ball up for Chicago, trailing the Clips by only two. He passes it off to Gordon out on the left wing, being guarded by Q, who immediately knocks the ball away. The balls skates away into the backcourt and both Q and Gordon scamper after it, both diving for it as it dribbles out of bounds. One of those hustle plays and it goes the Clippers' way.

[3:20] After the sideline inbounds, Shaun gets it to Elton on the left side, then runs behind Elton to the left corner, then slides baseline. The play is blown dead when TT walks with the ball up top.

[3:12] Hinrich doesn't waste much time in penetrating off a Malik Allen screen, which forces a switch - TT now taking Hinrich off the ball, with Shaun picking up Allen. Once Hinrich hits the paint he's got PJ Brown out on the left wing. PJ catches and dribbles in a couple of feet against Elton where he [Brown] likes to take that face-up jumper. The Bulls' spacing here isn't all that good, which allows Shaun to leave Allen and swat away Brown's shot. Shaun goes the other way with the break. Gordon stays with him the whole way, tying up Shaun as he goes up for the layup. The ball squirts away as Shaun tries to salvage the attempt with a reverse. Good instinct, better defense.

The Chicago portion of the sequence is an object lesson in spacing. Why is it so important? Because good spacing forces the defense to make tough decisions. There just isn't enough time to send help, because the ball moves much faster than a defender ever can. By the time the help defender arrives, the ball is long gone. When the spacing sucks and everyone is clogging the lane, all a defender has to do is take a single step or two to rotate. This is why PHX is impossible to defend.

[2:59] Livingston is on the ball. He stays with Hinrich after Hinrich passes the rock off to Allen, who goes to PJ Brown in the post. EB is playing PJ straight up. Shaun hedges on the play as Hinrich moves over to the strong side. Shaun quickly recognizes that, even though he's in the neighborhood of the play, an EB-PJ matchup doesn't warrant a double-team. Brand ends up blocking Brown's shot. It bounces Hinrich's way, but all he can do is launch a desperation, fall-away 3FGA that draws air as the shot clock expires.

[2:33] Shaun initiates the old give-and-go with Elton left side, up high. Hinrich stays with Shaun as Shaun receives the ball from EB, then heads for the basket. When Gordon meets Shaun underneath, Shaun fakes, catching Hinrich leaving his feet, jumping laterally in front of Shaun. So Shaun wiggles right, in the opposite direction of Hinrich's leap. He could've jumped into Hinrich to draw the foul, Cassell-style, but instead, Shaun waits for Hinrich to clear, leans in and banks it off the glass. [Clippers 98, Chicago 94]

[2:21] Hinrich, with Shaun on him, dishes it off to Gordon up top on the right wing. With Q already smothering Gordon, EB moves up to trap him. Brown, who was EB's man, comes to help Gordon on the trap. Gordon desperately lobs the ball to Brown, but it's tipped away, and Livingston is the first guy there. He pushes it coast-to-coast against Hinrich. As Shaun elevates, Hinrich grabs Livingston. A flagrant-1: Two & the Ball. Shaun hits both free throws. Ben Gordon leaves the game for Chris Duhon. For good.

[2:04] Off the inbounds, Maggette dumps it into EB in the post. He shoots over Allen. [Clippers 102, Chicago 94]

[2:00] Hinrich brings it up left side against Shaun. Hinrich tries a fancy cross-over move left, but Shaun stays in front of him. Hinrich's going nowhere, so he moves right behind a Deng screen, and now has a matchup against Maggette up top. Damn if Maggette -- who as I mentioned in post sometime last week, is playing a lot better defensively -- doesn't let Hinrich breathe at all, forcing a Hinrich pass to Malik Allen, who's got ehhhh position at the foul line against Thomas. TT contests the Allen jumper nicely and it's a brick. The rebound is tipped back to Maggette.

Fierce Team Defense.

[1:41] Shaun is milking a little clock here, dribbling up top against Hinrich. What a stellar matchup that's been a blast to watch: Livingston v. Hinrich. Finally, with :11 to go on the shot clock, Shaun leaves it for EB way above the left elbow. Brand attempts a face-up over Allen, a shot he often drills, and this could pretty much ice it, but it's no good. Rebound Duhon. The Bulls call a 20-second timout.

[1:22] This time, Hinrich's on the weak side and Chicago has Duhon running the set. It's a strong vote of confidence that Dunleavy follows suit and puts Livingston, again, on the ball -- this time against Duhon. Duhon inbounds to Allen, who gives it back immediately. Duhon, with the ball, charges directly for the paint, but Livingston stays in front of him the entire way, so Duhon is forced back out. Tonight is one of Livingston's best defensive efforts of the season. Duhon tries again; this time, Duhon is able to get a step on Shaun, but EB is there, waiting, and blocks it. The ball bounces against the wood right into Elton's hand.

[1:13] Elton to Thomas, and Thomas seeing Q run the fly pattern behind the entire Chicago secondary, lobs a pass to Q about seven feet from the basket. Q drives, then lays it up and in. [Clippers 104, Chicago 94]

[1:05] Q picks up Hinrich in the frontcourt. PJ Brown gives Hinrich a pick, and EB inherits him momentarily on the switch up top, but Q recovers quickly. We're down to 1:00, so Hinrich performs a quick cross-over, launches a shot from 20-feet, no good. The rebound comes to TT, who is immediately fouled.

With 55.6 and a 10 point Clipper lead, that's basically it. Shaun Livingston is the fourth quarter story, going for 10 points on 3-4 from the field and 4-4 from the line, recording two steals and a blocked shot on a crucial possession. Beyond the stats, he stays in front of Hinrich down the stretch, forcing the Bulls to do stupid stuff like going to Brown and Allen late in possessions.

I want to mention a pivotal stretch late in the second half when the Clippers take advantage of a Brand-Sweetney matchup. As we know, Elton makes his living in the mid-post. But with a much larger, glacially slow Sweetney on him, EB does the smart thing - he starts much farther out on the wing. Rather than try to muscle Sweetney for his spot in the post, Elton uses his speed to drive around Sweets. From the moment Sweetney enters the game at [2:56, 2nd], Brand goes for 11 points on 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from the line. 11 points in 2:56.

[1] Hinrich gets a driving layup with the Bulls down 12 with 0:46 remaining.

[2] Gordon has just entered the game for Chicago. He finishes the game 5-5 from the field with five turnovers.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

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Comments

Now that's what I'm talking about!!!
The clips had great 8-man rotation last night(with the exception of Christie) and great TEAM chemistry (Ball Rotation/ Defensive help) Sam set the tempo early, EB came through after a slow start, Shaun Stepped up his game in the 4th, TT, CAT, and Maggs played their type of game, Kaman...Well,other than the 4blocks, Kim Hughes looked disgusted with his boy's performance...

Yeah ... the fight happened a row behind me (yikes). The three guys sitting behind me -- season ticket holders -- were good-naturedly teasing some bulls fans -- 3 teenage guys -- that were seated 3 rows behind me. With about 2 minutes left, they were (admittedly) going a little overboard in terms of volume and (foul) language. Out of nowhere a third guy -- we'll call him the gambler -- came up and started screaming at them to stop, "because he had the clippers plus ten, and he was trying to watch the game." The guys behind me took (drunken) exception to this intervention and started yelling at the gambler.

At this point, I was fairly sure that cooler heads would prevail, so I turned back around to watch one of the clippers (I don't recall who) shoot some free throws. As soon as I was facing the court, I heard "oooooh, ahhhhh." I turned back around and the gambler was punching on of my friends in the face (he landed some good shots). Meanwhile another one of the dudes behind me was taking on (all three of) the bulls fans. Security was VERY SLOW to get there (the first usher there was a 5'2", 110 pound girl -- completely useless in the situation). As the fight progressed the gamblerlanded a few good punches on one of the guys behind me, the second guy behind me got punched once trying to break up the original combatants, and the puny bulls fans (no older than 16) had overwhelmed the third guy behind me and began kicking him while he was on the ground. Eventually security got there and broke it up, but the damage had already been done: my friends had received the worst of it by far.

In the end, it put a sour coda on an otherwise great game. Of course, no one should be fighting at these games, but a certain amount of fisticuffs is inevitable given the combination of booze and testosterone at the games. Security certainly knows this, but they were WAY too slow breaking up the fight(s). While I'm not overly concerned about the safety of the combatants -- they did start fighting each other, after all -- first were flying, and I'm amazed an innocent bystander or two didn't get hurt.

Sorry this was so long, just though you all might be interested in what happened.

On a different note, it was great to see livingston play angry for once!

Quote from Todd Lerner, "Let the record also show that I moved to LA from Chicago 15 years ago, and adopted the Clippers as my team #1b. The Bulls are still my 1a. So if you see me in section 216, don't hate me for pulling my Bulls gear out of the hall closet this one time a year and representing."

I moved here from DC over 30 years ago, and although my favorite NFL team is still the 'Skins, I have long ago switched over to the Clips from the Bullets-Wizards. I hope Todd was happy with the outcome of this game!

Thanks for the commentary on the fight Brian, I watched it from afar and could definitely see some nice punches landed, sadly, it wasn't a boxing competition. hope your friend is all right.

Secondly, I must apologize to some people here on clipperblog, for I used to be a fan of Darrell and the wave, but when he tried to get it going last night with 2 minutes left I felt your disgust in it. Love Darrell, not the wave, especially not in that situation. Now, my question is the wave as bad as Christie's jesus christ superstar i love my wife hand in the air thingy? And does he have a rhyme and a reason for when he does it, or is it just every minute?

Finally, great game from the Clips. I was worried they were going to implode, as Cassell blasted Kaman, Mobley basically cried after he got his fourth foul and was sent to the bench, and Livingston even started yelling back at Dunleavy (gotta love sitting courtside). Go Clips!

Who would've thought the Clippers would shoot more 3's than the Bulls while making a better percentage (not a great percentage, but better)?

It's really unfortunate that the fight in the stands is the most riveting Clipper topic today haha. It was odd last night watching it on TV though, because all the players and fans stood up to watch it and if you watched it on TV you were really confused. I thought Clipper Darrell was probly dancing or some thing.

Craig - I would have been happy no matter who won, to be honest. The Clippers, honestly, needed to win last night's game more than the Bulls did.

Also, while I am still a Bulls fan, this last summer I got married and, because of having more responsibilities (less time), and a tighter budget, I didn't spring for League Pass. So I haven't been able to follow my Bulls as closely this season as I have in the past. So, at the game, there was a definite feeling of disconnect between my old team and I, especially compared to my familiarity with the Clips.

It was disconcerting, and I long for my days of League Pass, but I may be switching up my 1a and 1b teams sometime down the road. Just don't tell my family back home.

last year, the Clips played one of their worst games of the year at home v. Chicago. Shaun's numbers were unremarkable: 6 pt, 6 rb, 6 ast on 3-7 FG. The Clippers win at Chicago in March was Shaun's first double-digit scoring night in 6 weeks. He finished with 10 pts on 4-6, 2-2, with 5 ast, 4 rb, 2 to.

Brian hit the nail right on the head. Livingston has to get a little anger in his game. He has been playing too timid and looks frustrated and intimidated after a bad play. He has to play with the attitude of I'm going to get even now. A little better shooting and a little anger will go a long way to complement his talent. Talent takes you just so far and the rest comes from the head and heart.

I"ve never understood why people like singleton so much. He's only put together two complete games since become a clipper (a fluky string of two games at the beginning of last season). He had a third decent game last season -- a solid effort on defenese against dirk. But other than that, he's nothing more than a poor man's J.R. Smith: a few good dunks, and WAY too many missed three point attempts. Sure, he's young, and I'd definitely like to hang on to him. But people call for him in games?!?!?!?!?! that's absurd, it's a serious case of incongruity between a player's skill and the crowd's affection.

the stats don't tell the whole story on JJS. my guess is u really haven't watched enough clips games dating back to last yr. JJS is a great energy sparkplug and a hard worker. what he lacks in recognizing defensive rotations (probably the main reason MDSr has him on the bench) and offensive production, he more than makes up for in rebounding (both ends, including plenty of highlight putback dunks), 1-on-1 defense (he shut down melo before Q did), and inside help defense (long and athletic so he gets a lot of blocks). the fans love him b/c he's exciting, and not in a boykins "look at me i'm short and i like to shoot shoot shoot" kind of way - he's a legitimate plus on the court, especially against the opposing team's 2nd string.

JJS is wrong to ask for a trade though. he hasn't earned the right to such a request. i had a feeling we wouldn't be able to sign him this off-season anyways, now it's pretty much confirmed. it's too bad, i think he would have developed into a significant role player.

I've been a season ticket holder for 4 years. i have been to the last 90 clippers home games. I've probably watched half the road games. your guess couldn't be more wrong. In the future, you should try to use strong arguments to disagree with someone, rather than use the "you just haven't seen him as much as I have" cop-out.

As for your points, some are valid. For example, he does rebound well.

The rest are less valid. He has not had "plenty of highlight dunks". In fact, there have been quite few, but it just seems like there have been many because they are, as you say, "highlight dunks." Your sample size on saying he's a good 1-on-1 defender is one or two games. In addition, the fans' love for him is both irrational and far from a reason to keep him.

I like SIngleton. I like put-back dunks as much as the next guy, but i don't like players who over-estimate their abilities and ask for trades. That said, I don't think we should trade him, becuase his value is zero

we can agree to fault JJS for requesting (not demanding) a trade. we can agree to disagree on JJS's skill set. but u were quite harsh on him in ur first post, perhaps a justifiable reaction to an end-of-the-bench 2nd yr player asking for a trade (especially after the clips rescued him from an Euro-league). but i hope u'll agree w/ me that JJS CAN (and SHOULD) be a valuable contributor to this current clips squad, especially when TT isn't shooting well (unless he plays w/ the same intensity as the last 2 games).

but it's a moot point. JJS has probably earned himself a cell in MDSr's doghouse. no shawshank redemption or prison break here, there's no digging out of this jail (just ask weezy or corey).

In your second season, not having been a major contributor it is a little pretentious to be asking for a trade. Who does he think we would get for him? Right now he has no trade value and would be a throw in who probably would get no more playing time than he gets now. It's time to shut up and wait for your opportunity.
Hey Supac. Great article on Livvy. Now he just has to overcome some of the skeletons in his closet and work on his jumper.

02/03/07 09:22:39

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